Weather Network predicts slow-starting spring

Temperatures cooler at first in Newfoundland before reaching normal levels

People in Newfoundland and the St. John’s metro area will experience a cooler-than-usual spring for at least a little while, but temperatures should be near-normal for the vast majority of the season.

Scenes like this, of a vehicle driving through blowing snow on Ruby Line, have been all too common this winter and The Weather Network cautions more could be on the way throughout March, and a late spring is likely for this province. — File photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram

That’s according to The Weather Network, which earlier this week released details of its spring seasonal outlook for all regions of Canada.

“The thing is, there’s still quite a bit of Arctic air to work with across the continent, and sometimes that will flush out over Atlantic Canada, so I know at least in the next week or two weeks, you’ll still be dealing with some cold temperatures,” said Gina Ressler, a Weather Network meteorologist based in Oakville, Ont.

“But we expect temperatures to rebound slightly as we head into late March and early April.”

The average daytime high in

St. John’s for March is 2 C, 7 C for April and 13 C in May.

“We’ll see some temperatures below that for probably the first half or two-thirds of March,” said Ressler.

The cool winter experienced thus far in Newfoundland does appear to carry forward as an influencing factor with respect to the outlook for March. Ressler said February was particularly cold across Canada, even though January was a relatively milder month when compared to previous years.

“We called it, here at The Weather Network, ‘The Winter-mission,’ because December was cold, January we had a bit of a thaw and then February was cold again. So this outlook, at least into March, is sort of a continuation of that, with that cold air still centred over North America. But we do expect conditions to return to milder conditions for at least Atlantic Canada ... to balance out the cooler start to March.”

For precipitation, Ressler said most of Newfoundland will experience normal levels, but the Northern Peninsula and west coast through to southern Labrador can expect higher-than-normal precipitation levels.

“This is a bit of a continuation from what we’ve seen so far this winter. It’s been very active in Atlantic Canada.”

For St. John’s, an average spring entails approximately 90 centimetres of snowfall and 280 millimetres of rainfall.

While the spring is expected to normalize as March turns to April and onwards, Ressler said it is too soon to predict what that will mean for the summer.

“I always say, just because we had a really harsh and brutal winter, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to have a bad summer. But right now I think it’s too early to tell, especially since looking back over the last couple of months we’ve seen big pattern changes across the country. Just because you see a certain setup across the country in terms of the weather systems for a few weeks, that might go and change on you in the next month or so.”

Scenes like this, of a vehicle driving through blowing snow on Ruby Line, have been all too common this winter and The Weather Network cautions more could be on the way throughout March, and a late spring is likely for this province. — File photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram